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HISTORY

MISSILE
BASE: The origin of Plesetsk facility

The Cold
War entered a new phase in 1957, when, for the first time, the USSR could
target the US territory with nuclear-tipped missiles. As Soviet designers
were still testing the R-7 missile in Tyuratam,
the military had already started looking for places to deploy the new
weapon. The shortest path for missile attack against the North American continent
extended across the Arctic Ocean. It was clear that the launch pads had
to be placed as far north as possible for the maximum use of the missiles'
flight range. At the same time, the future launch sites had to be accessible
by railroad, (the only way of transporting R-7 stages), while being remote
enough to maintain maximum secrecy. A search team of the Ministry of Defense
chose the village of Plesetsk in Archangel Region, 800 kilometers north of Moscow
(62.8° Northern latitude, 40.1° Eastern magnitude) as the location
of the first operational base for the R-7 missile.

The first
military construction crews arrived at Plesetskaya railroad station in
February 1957. They were met by a blizzard harsh even for Northern Russia
and by the cold reaching minus 45 C°. In the meantime, on July 4,
1957, in the town of Bolshevo near Moscow, new military unit to be deployed
in Plesetsk was officially formed. The veteran of the Soviet missile forces,
Colonel Mikhail Grigoriev was officially appointed the commander of the
unit on July 10. Five days later, Grigoriev issued his first order, detailing
temporary structure of the new division: the command group, the division
of construction and service groups - total 32 officers and 120 soldiers
and sergeants. In September 1957, Grigoriev and his officers arrived in
Plesetsk, where they lived in five railroad cars until May 1958.

UNCOVERING
THE MYSTERY: Secrecy around Plesetsk

At the beginning
of 1960, the US intelligence has already put Plesetsk high up on the
list of suspected ICBM sites. Francis Gary Powers' reconnaissance flight
on May 1, 1960, which resulted in the famous U-2 incident, had both Tyuratam
and Plesetsk among its primary surveillance targets. In August 1960, after
numerous previous failures, the Corona spacecraft, delivered first photos
of the Plesetsk area. Despite low quality, they did reveal railway lines
not found on the German military maps from the World War II era - the
best reference on the Soviet geography US intelligence had at the time.

ON ALERT: R-7 ICBM in operation

In December
1959, a government commission officially declared the first launch pad
in Plesetsk for the R-7 missiles operational. Within days after the completion
of the Plesetsk launch complex, on December 17, 1959, the Soviet government
created Strategic Missile Forces, RVSN, within the Soviet Army. On July
15, 1961, two additional R-7 launch pads at Site 3 in Plesetsk were commissioned.
The 70th battlefield station deployed at Site 43 serviced the new facilities.
Various processing improvements in Plesetsk allowed reducing the time
necessary to prepare R-7 for launch down to seven or eight hours, as oppose
to 12-16 hours needed to launch the same missiles from any of two
pads in Tyuratam.

NEW
GENERATION: R-16 and R-9 ICBMs

In
August 1960, the construction of the two surface pads for the R-16
missile started in Plesetsk. The new unit trained to serve the R-16
missiles arrived in Plesetsk on June 13, 1961. At the same time, three
silos for R-16U missile were under construction in Plesetsk. Next, the
R-9 ICBMs were also deployed in Plesetsk. In May 1962, General Major Stepan
Shtanko replaced Grigoriev as a commander of the Plesetsk base. In his
tenure, the site played a key role in the nuclear confrontation with the
U.S. over the Soviet missiles placed on Cuba. At 1 p.m. September 11,
1962, as the events around Cuba were unfolding, the Plesetsk base was
put on high alert. A curfew was implemented in the residential areas and
lights had to be turned off after dusk. Powerful sirens installed in town
and barracks played regularly, calling officers to their positions, who
could only wonder if it was "real" this time.

NEW
ROLE: Creation of a test range in Plesetsk

At the beginning
of 1962, General Galaktion Alpaidze was assigned by the Ministry of Defense
to lead a team of experts searching for a new site, which could be used
for two major projects: to test solid-fueled ballistic missiles and to
provide access to high-inclination orbits for space launches. In December
1962, after intensive search from the air and from the ground, Alpaidze
proposed two potential sites. The Ministry of Defense approved the site
near the town of Velsk, which is about 300 km southeast of Plesetsk. At
the same time, during 1963, Sergei Korolev, head of OKB-1 design bureau,
reportedly insisted on using existing infrastructure in Plesetsk instead
of developing a new site. Korolev volunteered to prepare an official proposal
on the subject for Sergei Zverev, the Minister of Defense Industry, who
later approved the idea. On September 16, 1963, Soviet of Ministers USSR
issued a resolution, approving a merger of the future test range and the
existing ICBM base in Plesetsk.

FIRST
MISSILE TESTS: RT-2 ICBM

Three silos
for solid-fueled RT-2 ICBM became the first test facilities built in Plesetsk.
A special test unit commanded Lt. Colonel Yuri Yashin was formed at the
site on February 25, 1965. By October 3, 1968, 25 launches of RT-2 ICBM
had been conducted from the range. On April 29, 1969, the new automated
control system was used to launch RT-2 after the signal from the command
center of the Strategic Missile Forces. With the completion of the initial
test program, the RT-2 missiles were deployed in Plesetsk in seven new
silos for "operational testing." Total 142 RT-2 missiles would eventually
fly from Plesetsk. Between January 16, 1970 and January 1972, Plesetsk
also hosted 51 launches of a modified RT-2P missile.

INTO
SPACE: End of Plesetsk mystery

On March
17, 1966, the Plesetsk launched its first satellite, announced as Kosmos-112,
carried aloft by the Vostok-2 booster. The spacecraft belonged to the
first-generation of the Zenit spysat, previously launched from Tyuratam.
On April 6, the second-generation Zenit (Kosmos-114) blasted off from
Plesetsk onboard the Voskhod booster. The higher than usual inclination
of these two spacecraft -- 73 degrees -- was noticed by a group of students
led by Geoffery Perry, physics teacher in Kettering school, England. The
group has been monitoring trajectories and analyzing radio signals from
the satellites. The closer evaluation of the satellites' ground tracks suggested
that they originated in Northwestern Russia. Kettering group had to wait
until October 14, when Kosmos-129 was launched, to get an additional ground
track and pinpoint exactly where all three missions had originated. On
November 3, 1966, the discovery was officially announced and since then
Plesetsk has been known publicly in the West. Yet, the Soviet Union did
not acknowledge the existence of the launch site in Plesetsk until 1983.

Around 1965,
the construction of the launch complex for
an R-12-based launcher has started south of original R-7 pads. The Raduga (No. 133)
facility was used for the first time on March 16, 1967 to launch a new
version of the R-12-based booster designated 11K63 (Kosmos-2). On May
15, 1967, the Kosmos-3M launcher also started flying from Plesetsk. The Rockot booster had been flying from th same site since 2000.

FIRST
MOBILE MISSILE TESTS: RT-20 ICBM

During 1968,
Plesetsk became a testing ground for the early efforts to create mobile
ICBMs. 12 launches of the RT-20 (SS-X-15) mobile system were conducted
at the time. Reportedly, eight launches resulted in failures, after which
the project was terminated. Testing of the new mobile ICBM "Temp-C" (also
known as SS-16 and RS-14) started in Plesetsk on March 14, 1972 and it
was conducted by a test unit led by Lt. Colonel N.V. Mazyarkin. By 1976,
35 launches were conducted in the course of the intensive test program.
Although in 1974, Leonid Brezhnev during Vladivostok summit with President
Ford promised not to deploy SS-16 missiles, U.S. satellite imagery later
revealed what appeared to be up to 200 solid-fueled SS-16s deployed near
Plesetsk under camouflage netting.

UNMANNED
PAD: Tsyklon-3 launch complex

In 1970,
the construction of a highly-automated launch complex for Tsyklon-3 (11K68)
booster started at Site 32. It was designed by Transmash Design bureau
led by Chief Designer V.N. Soloviev. (VKS history p.169, 237) The complex
includes two pads called "Left start" and "Right start."
The first launch pad was conducted here on June 24, 1977, carrying Kosmos-921.

A TRAGIC NIGHT: KOSMOS DISASTER

By 1973,
the launcher known today as Kosmos-3M was in
use in Plesetsk for about six years. According to a post-Soviet source,
a routine launch was planned for 1:32 a.m. on June 26, 1973s. The preparation,
however, run into trouble, when due to a sensor malfunction, the fuel
tank was overfilled. The personnel drained part of the fuel and refueled
the launcher. Apparently, at this point, the fuel tank developed a leak
and 15 seconds before the liftoff, the launch sequence was automatically
suspended. The launch was canceled and more than 40-member launch team
tried to deactivate the vehicle. At 4:18 and 4:20 a.m. two crews of 13
people were dispatched to the launch pad. At 4:22 a.m., a dual explosion
shook the complex, followed by the fire. Seven people were killed on the
spot, 13 were injured, two of those later died in a hospital. No announcement
about the tragedy was made at the time and its victims were buried in
a mass grave in Mirny. A special memorial to the victims of the accident
was dedicated in 1974.

VOSTOK
DISASTER (1980)

On March
18, 1980, during the fueling of the Vostok-2M launcher with the Tselina
satellite, while dozens of military technicians worked on the pad,
a devastating explosion incinerated the rocket, killing 50 people. The
victims of the tragedy were buried within limits of the town of Mirny,
by the same memorial where nine people, who died in a 1973 Kosmos-3M explosion
found their final resting place. The official investigation of the cause
of the disaster essentially blamed the ground personnel for breaking fire
safety rules. However, for years to come the official conclusion was doubted
by people familiar with the matter. According to the post-Cold War Russian
source, the results of investigation were proved wrong, when on June 23,
1981, a similar disaster was miraculously averted at the last second in
Plesetsk. The new investigation pinpointed a valve, made of materials,
which on contact with hydrogen peroxide could cause explosive chain reaction.
Not until the end of the 1980's an outside world could learn about both
accidents.

MISSILE
TRAINS: Railroad-based missiles

From January
1982 to April 1985, the testing of the rail road-based RT-23 (RS-22) missile
was conducted in Plesetsk. It was followed by the testing of modified
RT-23 UTTKh system designed for both railroad and silo launchers. Railroad-based
system was under testing between February 27, 1985 and December 22, 1987.
For a silo based version, eight underground pads of two different types
were constructed in Plesetsk along with fortified control bunker and modified
measurement complex. Total 20 launches of the missile were conducted from
Plesetsk between July 31, 1986 and September 23, 1988.

PERESTROIKA:
Fall of USSR and post-Soviet developments (1990s)

Despite being
in better politico-economic position than its Kazakh cousin, Plesetsk
could not escape severe financial problems of the economic transfer in
the 1990s. As of 1997, more than 1,500 spacecraft have been launched from
the site. However, in the wake of the reduction in defense spending, space
launches in Plesetsk fell from 47 in 1988 to 6 in 1996. The same year,
V.P. Pronikov, director of Plesetsk Cosmodrome, complained in an interview
that his personnel had been without pay for three months. The site also
faced environmental problems in the areas of fall of booster stages, which
had to be addressed.

TOPOL:
The latest generation

The testing
of strategic weapons also continued in Plesetsk at a slow rate in the
1990s. The new Topol-M (RS-12M2) ICBM was launched here for the first time
on December 20, 1994. Two more launches were conducted in 1995 and 1996
and one more on July 8, 1997. The flight testing continued in the new century.

Total
four pads for R-7 missiles similar to those in Tyuratam were built in Plesetsk along
the Yemtsa River, whose steep banks saved a great deal of digging
efforts during the construction of the flame trenches. The first military
unit to serve operational R-7A missiles was officially formed on May 19,
1958. The unit would be housed in barracks at Site 41, near yet-to-be-built
launch complex at Site 1. The checkout and assembly of missiles stationed at pad No. 1 would be conducted at Site 142.

Total three
launch pads for the Kosmos-3-type booster existed in Plesetsk. It was
encoded "Raduga" (Rainbow) and was designed specifically as
a space launch facility by Central Design Bureau of Transport Machine
Building and Central Design Institute of the Ministry of Defense. The
complex needed an elaborate infrastructure to handle five types of propellant
and three types of gases including nitrogen, helium and air heated up
to 120°C, all used in a two-stage launcher. During 1990s one of
three Cosmos pads at Site 133 was converted for the Rockot booster,
which blasted off from Plesetsk for the first time in May 16, 2000.

Tsyklon-3

In 1972,
the construction of a highly-automated launch complex 11P868 for Tsyklon-3
(11K68) booster started at Site 32 in Plesetsk. The complex was designed
by Department 8 from KBTM design bureau led by Department Chief V. N. Soloviev.
It included two pads traditionally called "Left start" and "Right
start." The first launch of the Tsyklon-3 rocket from the new facility
took place on June 24, 1977, with Kosmos-921 onboard.

The construction
of the new launch complex for Zenit launch-vehicle has started in the
80's, however, the project was delayed by budget problems, becoming
one of the "dolgostroi" (stalled construction) projects of
the post-Soviet era. In 1993, a pair of Zenit pads intended for fast-paced military missions, were planned to
be completed around 1996 or 1997, however, they remained unfinished
as of 2001. In the second half of the 1990s, the plans to launch Zenit
from the Plesetsk were dropped and the yet-to-be-built launch complex
was "reoriented" for the Angara launch vehicle.

Town and support facilities

The
main residential area of Plesetsk called Mirny ("Peaceful")
is located northeast of the Plesetsk railway station. The first construction
started here in the fall of 1957 and included mostly wooden barracks.

Ground control facilities

Geographical
location of Plesetsk did not allow the placement of two control stations
-- the minimum required to support the launches of the early versions
of the R-7 missile from Baikonur. As a result, the R-7's flight control
system had to be upgraded to work with a single remote control site.
When in 1963, Plesetsk received a status of a test range, a special
Directorate of Measurement Means was formed to support the launches.
The original network of ground control stations included five sites:
Dobryanka (IP-1) and Kluchevoe (IP-2) (both in vicinity of Plesetsk)
and remote sites in the town of Naryan Mar (IP-3) on the Island of Novaya
Zemlya (IP-5) and town Zheleznodorozhny (IP-4). Later, the station in
the town of Norilsk (IP-8), Mirny (IP-10) in the Republic of Sakha and
Yakutsk (IP-9) were introduced.